Bold Predictions for Giants' Individual Stat Leaders in 2024 NFL Season
The New York Giants are running it back with head coach Brian Daboll and quarterback Daniel Jones in 2024. However, much of the Giants' roster will look quite a bit different than it did during last year's underwhelming six-win campaign.
For one, the offense will no longer revolve around star running back Saquon Barkley, who departed for the rival Philadelphia Eagles in free agency. And while Barkley is gone, the Giants added several promising new players at other key positions.
With roster cuts due on Tuesday afternoon, general manager Joe Schoen is busy putting the finishing touches on the Giants' roster. While we don't know precisely how the final product will look, we can make an educated guess about who the team's top performers will be.
Here, we'll examine some projected stat leaders for the Giants, make a few bold predictions and dive into what it could all mean for the 2024 season.
Daniel Jones Is a Healthy Scratch at Some Point in 2024
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The Giants have made it perfectly clear that this season will largely be about evaluating quarterback Daniel Jones for the future. That's part of the reason why New York was willing to let Barkley walk in free agency.
"You're paying the guy (Jones) $40 million," Giants general manager Joe Schoen said on HBO's Hard Knocks (h/t NFL.com's Eric Edholm). "It's not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back."
The problem is that Jones has rarely played like a long-term answer at the game's most important position. He's a very effective scrambler and has the arm talent to generate big plays, but consistency is not his strong suit.
Even when he helped lead New York to the playoffs in 2022, he threw for only 3,205 yards and 15 touchdowns with a 92.5 passer rating. He rushed for 708 yards that season, but the Giants need more than a scrambling threat.
While Jones has looked fully recovered from last season's ACL tear during the preseason, his mistake-prone play has continued. The 27-year-old will start the majority of New York's games this season, but the prediction here is that the Giants will eventually decide that he's not the future.
The Giants can release Jones in the offseason and save $19.4 million in 2025 cap space. At some point this year, they'll turn to Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito to help ensure that plan isn't complicated by a late-season injury.
Stat Prediction: 2,987 passing yards, 19 TDs, 14 INTs, 590 rushing yards, 45 rushing TDs, 5 lost fumbles.
Davin Singletary Tops 1,000 Rushing Yards
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Allowing Barkley to walk will allow Jones to be a bigger focal point of the offense. That's great for evaluation purposes, but the Giants should still strive to support their quarterback with a balanced offense.
Enter Devin Singletary, who only started 10 games for the Houston Texans last season but still reached 1,091 scrimmage yards. The 26-year-old believes that he can be an adequate replacement for Barkley in New York's offense.
"I feel like I'm a playmaker, like him," Singletary said, per Steve Serby of the New York Post.
With all due respect, Singletary is a fine running back but not quite the type of explosive dual-threat that Barkley can be—when healthy and at his best, anyway. That said, Singletary can be a very productive player in New York.
While Singletary may not hit home runs as frequently as Barkley, he can also be more consistent on a down-to-down basis. He was a very decisive runner with Houston last season, something Barkley hasn't always been.
The prediction here is that Singletary is effective enough to lead New York's committee backfield throughout the season and record the first 1,000-yard rushing campaign of his career.
With a career average of 4.6 yards per carry, this milestone should require roughly 217 carries—30 carries fewer than Barkley logged in 14 games last season.
Stat Prediction: 1,035 rushing yards, 33 receptions, 211 receiving yards, 7 TDs
Malik Nabers Can't Get into the DROY Conversation
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If Jones does take a big step forward in 2024, rookie receiver Malik Nabers will probably be the catalyst. One of the top receiver prospects in the 2024 draft class, Nabers has the potential to quickly become the No. 1 receiver Jones has never had.
"His combination of speed, quickness and yards-after-the-catch skills will translate into explosive plays right away," Derrik Klassen of the Bleacher Report Scouting Department wrote before the draft.
Fans should fully expect Nabers to have a terrific rookie campaign and to lead the Giants in receiving yards. Unfortunately, he's going to have a hard time cracking the conversation for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The reality is that receivers like Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase and Puka Nacua have set a ridiculously high standard for rookie receivers in recent years. For Nabers to replicate their production, he'll need a quarterback who can consistently get him the ball—and Jones has yet to prove he can be that quarterback.
Additionally, the competition for the award will be stiff this season. Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze, Brian Thomas Jr. and Xavier Worthy are just a few likely candidates who play the same position as Nabers. Rookie quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix are all expected to start Week 1 and could quickly jump to the top of the DROY race because of positional importance.
An outlier—like rookie tight end Brock Bowers or running back Trey Benson—could emerge as well.
Nabers has all the necessary potential to be an NFL star, but he may not do it in his inaugural campaign.
Stat Prediction: 71 receptions, 988 receiving yards, 5 TDs, 112 rushing yards
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